Oncological services firm ensures efficiency thanks to Curzon IT strategy
Curzon has supported a client in the life sciences sector, as it designed and implemented a new target operating model for its IT systems. The oncological services company has subsequently been able to reduce overlaps in more than 160 systems, and ensure greater efficiency of resource use going forward.
A target operating model is a description of the desired state of the operating model of an organisation. It can be used to describes how a business should be organised to deliver its goals. It breaks down the people, processes and tools required to support the strategic vision, without which the strategy could not be executed. When applied well, it can yield a greater focus on strategic initiatives, leading to accelerated progress towards ambitions and goals; and ensure less time wasted on unnecessary activities; reducing costs, increasing profitability, and ensuring energies are directed instead to top-quality service.
That last point was crucial for a leading private oncology services company in Europe. Medical services for cancer patients should obviously take precedent over any other aspect of operations – and so finding efficiency savings on every other front of the organisation remains a constant task. In order to better devote resources to delivering support to people on various cancer pathways, the organisation sought help to oversee a target operating model for its IT systems.
Curzon is a Europe-wide consultancy, and the client tasked the firm’s experts with closing resource gaps, identifying opportunities to rationalise the IT footprint, and building a future-ready structure.
A new IT sourcing model was subsequently developed with three options: fully in-house, hybrid, and fully outsourced. These options were designed to balance cost, flexibility, and control. A new IT organisational structure was also designed to address resource gaps through key hires, clearer roles, and the reshoring of field teams.
To improve governance, Curzon recommended establishing a standalone Project Management Office (PMO) to provide robust project oversight and strengthen strategic alignment. Cybersecurity readiness was also addressed through a plan focused on enforcement gaps, vulnerabilities, and resource shortages. In addition, an IT systems architecture plan was created with a focus on application consolidation, centralised data warehousing, and operational efficiency. The aim was to enhance data accessibility and integration.
Meanwhile, Curzon conducted more than 20 interviews with IT and senior leadership across the UK and Spain. Thematic analysis was then applied, using ChatGPT to highlight recurring issues, areas of consensus, and regional variations in IT challenges.
The Curzon team later reviewed the client’s IT stack to map dependencies and identify inefficiencies. A total of 166 systems were analysed to identify overlaps, redundancies, and opportunities for rationalisation. Finally, existing IT governance and project management practices were assessed using client documents and interviews. The IT organisation was evaluated using a new framework and scorecard designed specifically for the project.
